Cravings vs. Urges

Do you crave the flesh of the dead? If so, check out my brother's website: http://www.myspace.com/everette_hartsoe. Not only does he dabble in Vamperotica, he actually submerges himself in it. This is the brother I didn't know about until I was fifteen: the sun shined after many weeks without sun, and we went to King's Mountain to pedal boat and eat pimento cheese sandwiches; dad says, "Say hello to your brother;" "Hey," we say our breath thick with french onion dip; eventually night came (and again and again), until I woke up today to find an email from him.

But this isn't really about my brother Everette, nor am I peddling his online goods (buy away: http://www.ehartsoe.com/), it's about cravings vs. urges. Picture this: yesterday at noon I sat in the community room at the local Jewish Center. My Weight Watchers leader was Mary-Lou-Renton-ing her way up and down the aisles. We must identify the difference between a craving and an urge, she said.

I think there was an Amen, maybe even a Hallelujah. We experimented: Smelling popcorn at the movie theater and wanting it? Urge.

Hearing the girl next to you pack her Marlboro Lights loudly against the palm of her hand? Urge. Wanting to jump on the Greyhound and go wait tables in Wyoming? Pure urge.

To crave, you've gotta go deep. It's got to be insatiable--satisfied only by the very thing you are craving. For my Weight Watchers leader (she sheepishly confessed) that thing is cheesecake; for Everette, at least according to his website, it's barely-dressed women wandering bloody streets in search of flesh. And me? Hmm...I'll get back to you on that one.